Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-06-03

Then from the celestial beauty of the skies he
turned TO contemplate the earthly beauty of
the woman who sat there before him, and
found that also fair. Whether it was the
contemplation of the glories of nature-for
there is always a suspicion of melancholy in
beautiful things-or whatever it was, her
face had a touch of sadness on il that he had
never seen before, and which certainly added
to its charm us a shadow adds to the charm
of the light.
"What are you thinking of, Besse!" he
asked
She looked up, and he saw that her lips
were quivering n little. 'Well, do you
know" she said, IL was, oddly enough,
thinking of my mother / can only just re-
member her, woman with a thin, sweet
face. remember one evening she was sitting
in front of house, just as the sun was set
ting like it is now, and was playing by her,
when suddenly she called me to her and
kissed me, and then pointed to the red clouds
that were gathered i'll the sky, and said: Il
wonder if you will ever think of me, dear,
when | have passed through those golden
gatesF did not understand what she meant
then, but somehow | have remembered the
words, and though she died so long ago do
often think of herr and two large tears
rolled down her face as she spoke.
Few men can bear to see a sweet and pretty
woman in tears, and this little incident was
too much for John, whose caution and doubts
all went to the winds together, and have not
since been heard Of
Bessie" he said "dont cry, dear; please,
don't! l can't bear to sec you cry"
She looked up as though to demonstrate at
his words, and then looked down again.
"Listen, Bessie" he went on, awkwardly
enough, II have got something to say to you
l want to ask you tiff, in short, you will
marry me. Wait bit, don't say anything
yet; you know me pretty well by now. / am
no chicken, dear, and | have knocked about
the world q good deal, and had one or two
love affairs like other people But Bessie, l
never met such a sweet woman, or, if you
will let me say it, such lovely woman as
you, and if you will have me, dear, l think
that l shall be the luckiest man in South
Afrca;" and he stopped, not exactly know
ing what else to say, and the time had not
come for action, if indeed it was to come at
ALL
When she first realized the drift of his talk
Bessie had flushed up to the eyes and then
the blood had sunk back to her breast and
left her as pale as lily. She loved the man,
and they were happy words to her, and she
was satisfied with them, though perhaps some
women might have thought that they left a
good deal to be desired But Bessie was not
of an exacting nature.
At last she spoke.
Are you sure" she said, chat you mean
all this2 l mean sometimes people say things
of a sudden upon an impulse, and then after
ward they wish that they never had been
said. If that was so it would be rather awk-
ward, supposng l were to say yes, you
| know"
"Of course 1 am sure" he said, indig-
nantly.
"You see," went on Bessie, poking at the
sod wall with the stick she had in her hand,
'perhaps in this place You might be putting
an exaggerated value on me. You think l am
pretty because you see nobody but Kaffir and
Boer women, and it would be the same with
everything I'm not fit to marry a man like
you," she went on, with a sudden burst of
distress; II have never seen anything or any
body. I am nothing but an ignorant, half
educated farmer girl, with nothing to recon-
mend me, and no fortune except my looks.
You are different to me; you are a man of
the world, and if ever you went back to Eng
land l should be a drag on you, and you
would be ashamed Of me and my colonial
ways. If it had been jess now, it would have
been different, for she has more brains in her
little finger than have in my whole body"
Somehow the mention of jess Jared upon
Johns nerves and chilled him like breath of
cold wind on hot day. He wanted to put
jess out of his mind just now.
MY dear Bessie" he broke in, "why do you
suppose such things l can assure you that
| if you appeared in a London drawing room
| you would put most of the women in it into
! the shade. Not that there is much chance of
my frequenting London drawing rooms
again." he added.
"Oh, yes, l may be good looking don't
say that | am not; but can't you understand
don't want you to marry me just because
am pretty woman, as the kaflrs marry
their wives. If you marry me at ell l want
| you to marry me because you care for me,
the real me-not my eyes and my hair. Oh,
l don't know what to answer you! l don't,
indeed" and she began to cry softly.
"Bessie, dear Bessie" said John, who was
pretty well beside himself by this time, "iust
tell me honestly-do you care about me? l
am not worth much, l know, but if you do,
all this just goes for notning," and he took
her hand and drew her toward him, SO that
she half slipped, half got off the sod wall and
stood face to face with him, for she was a tall
woman, and they were very nearly of q
height
Twice she raised her beautiful eyes to his to
answer and twice her courage failed her, and
then at last the truth broke from her almost
with cry:
"Oh, John, love you with all my heart!n
And now think that we may drop q veil
over the rest of these proceedings, for there
are some things that should be sacred, even
from the pen of the historian, and the first
transports of the love of pure woman is one
of them.
Suffice it to say that they sat there side by
side on that sod wall, and were as happy as
people ought TO be under such circumstances,
till the glory departed from the western sky
and the world grew cold and pale, till the
night came down and hid the mountains, and
only the stars and they were left to look out
across the dusky distances of the wilderness
of plain.
Meanwhile very different scene was being
enacted up at the house, half mile away.
Not moro than ten minutes after John and
ln1N ln1 .